On August 31, 2021,[1] the Council of State reaffirmed the position it recently took in two previous judgments regarding the calculation of fines for bid rigging cases.[2]

In particular, in line with its recent decision-making practice, the Council of State reaffirmed that the Italian Competition Authority (the “ICA”): (i) had correctly considered as “value of sales” the value of the contract awarded including its one-year extension, since it was expressly mentioned in the tender documents and reasonably foreseeable by the tenderers; and (ii) had correctly applied the so-called “entry fee”, since it had found that the infringement was “very serious”, took place in the context of a public tender procedure between leading national players in the market, and effectively resulted in higher economic offers submitted by the parties. Therefore, the Council of State agreed with the ICA about the need to include the entry fee in the fine applied, in order to ensure a sufficient deterrent effect.

[1] Council of State, Judgment No. 6134//2021.

[2] Council of State, Judgments of May 20, 2021, Nos. 3900 and 3901/2021, both analyzed in our Italian Competition Law Newsletter, May 2021